“Bobby Fischer Against the World” (HBO Documentary Films, Liz Garbus, Director, 2011) is a documentary film on arguably the greatest chess player ever, and his struggles to deal with family issues, mental problems and fame.
Bobby Fischer was the World Chess Champion from 1972 through 1975. He won the title in a famous match in Reykjavik, Iceland against Russian Boris Spassky.
Through interviews with contemporaries, we learn of Bobby’s difficult youth. He grew up without a father and became separated from his mother at the age of 16. At the age of six he discovered the game of chess and by age eight he was already an accomplished player.
1972 World Chess Championship
The centerpiece of the movie is the only World Championship match that Fischer played, a best-of-24 game series in Iceland. The movie takes up through of the difficulties of setting up the match, virtually all of them caused by Fischer, and his desires for more money or different conditions, all of which may have had a psychological impact on Spassky. .
The movie does a great job of recreating the time of the match, which took place during the Cold War, the conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. The contest provided more interest than any chess match before or since. My favorite moment is when John Chancellor (NBC news anchor at the time) started the news show with Fischer before moving to a secondary story about a break-in at the Watergate Hotel.
Each side was hoping to declare intellectual superiority based on the outcome of the match, but in the end, it was clearly Fischer against Spassky. After forfeiting the second game to go down 2-0, Fischer roared back to win 12 ½ to 8 ½. Instead of enjoying his victory, he felt hounded by the press and eventually withdrew from society.
Fischer’s Later Life
From the beginning of the movie, the filmmakers do a good job of showing Fischer’s eccentricity, which became more pronounced after forfeiting the title to Anatoly Karpov in 1975. Always somewhat of recluse, with few friends outside of chess, Fischer became even more distanced from even his colleagues, recorded anti-Semitic ramblings (even odder in that he was Jewish himself) and disappeared from view until 1990.
The movie explores whether the game of chess could be responsible for his unconventional behavior, or whether he was drawn to chess because of it. Fischer, a troubled genius, can be compared to Howard Hughes, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator, or to John Nash of A Beautiful Mind played by Russell Crowe. .
"Bobby Fischer Against the World" is an entertaining documentary, well paced and well directed. It also adds to the viewer’s knowledge of chess, and explores the problems of dealing with fame.
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